The APTN branch of the Canadian Media Guild is concerned by the company’s engagement of a number of temporary employees to work on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler.

The Guild has no objection to seeing the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network engage additional employees to work on the games coverage – as long as they are treated on an equal basis to other Guild members at APTN. Their wages and working conditions must be no less favourable than those of regular APTN employees working under the CMG collective agreement. So far the company hasn’t provided any information about how many workers have been engaged, who they are, or what their employment status or pay rates are.

It’s in the best interests of both APTN and the Guild to make sure that the network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics is as good as it can possibly be. It should be equally clear, though, that successful coverage shouldn’t come at the cost of substandard wages or working conditions for workers.

“We don’t want to have APTN use the Olympics as a cover for promoting a two-tiered employment system,” says Bruce Spence, vice-president of the APTN Branch of the CMG.

The issue was initially raised with the company in November 2009. We have submitted a written request for the information and are still awaiting a response. We’ll keep you posted on developments as they occur.

Your branch executive:

Allan Mckay
Derek Christianson
Bruce Spence
Vincent Proteau